Black Bean Brownies

Stolen from nomeatathlete.com:

"For the Mix:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp powder

2 1/4 cups raw sugar

1 1/4 cup cocoa

4 tsp instant coffee powder

1 1/2 cups chopped hazelnuts

You also need:

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and filled with new water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of water (eyeball it by filling up half the empty can)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour with the salt and baking powder. For a nice layered presentation in a jar start with half the sugar, then add half the flour mixture, all the cocoa, the coffee powder, the remaining flour, the remaining sugar, and the nuts on top. When ready to bake, dump out the jar into a mixing bowl and stir to combine all the dry ingredients.

Drain a can of black beans and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear. Return the black beans back to the can and fill with water. Puree the beans and water. Add the puree to the dry mix along with the vanilla and extra cup of water. Stir to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan around halfway through. When the brownies are finished they should be firm in the center and the edges will be slightly puffy and starting to pull away from the sides. My batch was finished at 28 minutes. It's important not to overbake in the oven because they will keep baking once you take them out.

Let brownies cool completely then use a 2×2 in cookie cutter to cut into 24 squares."

I thought these turned out well. I reduced the sugar down to 2 cups, and that is plenty sweet. The only drawback is the amount of sugar, but I'm sure you could replace some of that with sweetener. Other than that, these are higher in protein and very low in fat. Also, this is a big recipe, so perhaps try a half batch first...

Gonna have to get ahold of some instant coffee, but gonna try it.

I said this (Black Bean Brownies) out loud, and everyone here thought that was funny.

My daughter just past by from the kitchen and said to me "Thanks for dinner. What's for desert, black bean brownies". Once again laughter filled the room.

I need to try another black bean brownie recipe, more like this. I tried one awhile ago, and they're still in my freezer. Wasn't a big fan, but that's because they had bananas in them and they were more banana-y than chocolate-y.

I tried that one with bananas too....not impressed. It was like black bean-banana-brownie mush.

I wanna try that recipe. Can you use packaged black beans instead of canned?, just to be a little more environmentally friendly.

I haven't really cooked or baked alot of things, but I do know this will give me great experience.

Hopefully today I can go pick up the ingredients at Giant Tiger~

Bagged beans will work as long as you cook em first.

Also I should mention that ideally if you are buying canned beans, make sure to buy the no sodium kind, otherwise the brownies will be rather salty...

These sound sooooooooo morish!

But as you said, its ashame they have so much sugar in. Maybe replace sugar with agave nectar? Don't know if that will be ok. Or maple syrup maybe? Mmmm.... I'll have to give it a go....

I don't see any real health benefits of replacing sugar with agave but Mary Mcdougall did a version of the recipe where she used agave.

Makes 12 rectangles

 

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups agave nectar

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

Line an 8x8” pan with parchment paper and allow about 1” of the paper to hang out on each side. This will allow you to lift the brownies out of the pan once they cool.

 

Place black beans and agave nectar in a food processor and puree until very smooth. Add the flax seeds, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and pulse to combine. Add the flour and pulse until just until barely combined, scraping the sides as needed. Do not over mix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake approximately 30 minutes or until center no longer jiggles when shaken gently and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

 

Allow to cool completely before slicing. Cut into 12 small rectangles.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jul/recipes.htm

I you guys like low-fat/calorie cookies/cakes you should browse the drmcdougall.com forum recipe section.

If I wanna eat a treat I want it to be bad for me!

fugg I am going to try this. Anything to use up all this whole wheat flour I have.